KingMoose

I don't think any of us implied that if you don't talk about having the surgery that automatically makes you ashamed of it. I believe that as part of us telling people is exactly that telling people how we took control of our lives and took "extreme" steps to lose our excess weight. It is also a way to explain and de-stigmatize the common thought that WLS is the easy way out. It allows you to explain your trials before using conventional diets and how this was your choice after a long line of failed attempts and the was just the natural progression since the aforementioned diets failed. I personally tell people because I want people to know that just because I had WLS it is an everyday lifestyle that I have to plan and choose the right things to eat and if I don't there are almost instantaneous reprocussions ie. dumping syndrome... whereas if I "cheated" before I do not feel those bad decisions. Also the fact that more than the way we eat and live our daily lives how much of the process is more a mental shift in the way we think overall not just as food for fuel but the way we view life itself. Part of a lot of out journey has been to take control and change the support circles we have. Some of us have and are severing ties with those toxic relationships and surround ourselves with people who support and love us for who we are not what they think we should be. We have also because of the feeling of confidence we have gained through the process have "come out of our shells" and have taken control of our insecurities of shyness, self-esteem, skepticism... it is our life our decision and those who do not support us and our decision to better our lives for not only us but our family's. I do not think anyone on this forum would ever think that not telling about your journey = ashamed, exactly the opposite that is part of you taking control of your life and only giving as much information about your private life as you feel comfortable with. Remember that if we say something that is relevant to our journey does not mean that those who do not do it our way was wrong. Some people are so sensitive to their own personal views they are intolerant to others, and think it is an attack on their views. Which is not the case it is the over politically-correct way of thinking that everybody has to have the sunshine and roses view. Instead of assuming that we who talk about ___ are automatically discrediting those who think ___. Why not just say: "that is good for you that you were able to do that, I am not in that place yet I have only told... because ___. People stop being so defensive!

Yes and no. That is why I said weight/resistance training is so important. The more muscle you have the higher your BMR will be. Also as you lose weight your BMR will naturally lower because it does not take as much to power your body as it weighs less. If all you do is aerobic training yes it will slow down faster. But think about it the more lean muscle mass you have the more calories you will burn as it takes almost 50 calories a day to fuel 1lb of muscle. Yes you can drop into starvation/preservation mode but it takes time for that to happen it is not a light switch that can be turned on and off. Dropping below 1000 cal a day for LONG periods of time will do it. But again that is why building muscle is so important for us!

Like I said most days I can only get about half of it then pick out the meat. I have it after I go to the gym so I am "starving" eat 1/2 then I am good.

Ok calories in/calories out. If you burn more calories than you take in you will lose weight plain and simple right? Not really, there is something called Basal Metabolic Rate (BMR) it is the amount of calories your body needs to function on a daily basis if all you did was sat on the couch and did nothing all day. So let's say your BMR is 3000 but you are losing weight, so you only eat 2000 calories you are already -1000 calories for the day. Then you work out and burn another 500 calories so your total beily deficit is -1500 calories. If you did this you would lose about a pounds every 2 days because 1lb of fat =3500 calories.

I eat about 6 bites (the size of bite you would give a two year old) of real meat and adout 3 spears of asparagus or 3 broccoli floweretts. If I have my cheese roll ups I have 4 slices of cheese each with a piece of deli turkey and roast beef on it. Either meal it takes about 30 min to eat. If I eat 5oz yogurt I mix in a little of my protein powder in it and it also takes about 20-30 min. While I am at practice I normally have an Atkins snack bar and that only takes about 5 minutes. I used to put all of my food in a 1/2c pampered chef measuring cup. But after I got used to seeing the serving size I am able to "eyeball" it on a plate. Although I still do it with soups or things that I am unsure of. I still limit my grain carbs to lunch or before, lunch is my "biggest" meal where it is usually a 6" subway sandwich either chicken or turkey and ham. That takes me about an hour to eat it because of the bread. Most days I eat about half of that the pull the meat and veggies and eat it by itself.

I am six months out and have been doing both cardio and weights. When I started I could only ride the bike for 5 minutes (because of a back injury) now that I have lost 140lbs since my hw I no longer have the back and hip pain I now do the elliptical for about 20 min and go as hard as I can for 2 1/2 miles. Starting Monday I will be increasing to 3 miles hard as I can. I try to better my time every time I work out. I have bested my time every work out for the last week and a half cutting over 1 minute off of my time. Then I do medium heavy weights. Hitting different parts every day ex: MONDAY chest and triceps TUESDAY Back and biceps WEDNESDAY Legs THURSDAY shoulders Every day I work my core at the end of my workout.

Yes lifting will slow the weight loss on the scale, but, in the process you are building muscle and burning way more fat than you would with cardio alone. If you are worried start taking measurements of your neck, bust, hips, waist, arms (both upper and forearm), wrist, and thighs. That will give you a more complete picture of your progress. 1lb of fat weighs the same as 1lb of muscle just as a ton of bricks weighs the same as a ton of feathers. The difference is muse just as bricks take less to add up. Whereas it takes a lot more feathers and fat to make the same amount. That is why somebody who is 259 with 30% body fat looks so different than a person the same weight that has 10% body fat. So keep lifting and build up that muscle it will pat off in the end.

Get back on the horse. Go back to what was working and stop with the stuff that has made you gain weight. We all slip up but being able to recognize it and fix the problem is priceless. You can do it you have done it before. Good luck!

Everyone that knew what I looked like before and knows what I look like now! I am not ashamed of the way I chose to handle my weight loss. I was ashamed of weighing close to 400lbs. I am very excited and empowered by my results both on and off the scale.

Resistance training is the key to building lean muscle! Plus it boosts you metabolism long after you workout is over. I hear way to many talk about how hey are losing muscle because of the rapid weight loss. That is mainly because they are doing mainly or mostly aerobic style workouts. If you add a strength training regime to your workouts you might see sell depletion of lean muscle. I am not saying running, swimming, hiking... is bad but if that is all you are doing you are not working your muscles to their potential and they will not retain the same mass or strength. I do agree that with age muscle mass naturally lessens. But with a good training schedule with both strength and cardio mix these problems will be less noticable. With the restrictions on calories and nutrients we consume everyday we are naturally in a negative balance and our bodies are looking for fuel. I would much rather my body consume my excess body fat than feed on my muscle to get it's fuel. Therefore lifting weights either high weight/low reps or low weight/high reps keeping my muscles active and keeping my metabolism high will help me achieve that.

I fluctuate between 800-1000 mostly Protein, I get roughly 90-100g a day. Any carbs I have is at lunch or before. I have subway 2 or 3x a week all grain carbs are whole grains (again only at lunch), the rest is via veggies which I do have at dinner if there is room. I did cheat yesterday and had Chinese pan fried noodles last night at dinner only one bite but still a bite is a bite. With the stalls make sure you guys measure yourselves sometimes the weight loss will not show on the scale but you are still dropping body fat. Since my surgery My waist has dropped 9" and hips/belly is down 13" neck (thank God) is only down 2" and my arms down 5" which now I can see muscle definition between my triceps, biceps and delts. So I know we sometimes focus on the scale as our achievement in weight loss but remember this is not always about a scale number. Good luck to all!

@@bonsaiway what part of Colorado? My family and I are moving back to Fort Collins this summer!

Actually the opposite for me. I put a lot of time in the gym. I definitely get my cardio, but, I also make sure I am hitting the weights hard as well. I did lose some strength in the beginning, but it is coming back pretty fast! Like I said though I put my time in and I am actually more defined than I ever have been. I have always been able to gain muscle mass pretty easy but never was defined or cut. Now I am getting both! Good luck on your journey, remember you get what you put in to it.

I got hurt 3 1/2 years ago in when I was in the Army, Got acute herniated disk in my L5/S1 also messed up my hip and left foot from the way I landed. After the accident I gained 130 lbs which made the pain worse. I am 6 months post op and have lost all the weight I gained after the accident and then some. I feel amazing, off all pain meds and live a very active lifestyle again. There are days that I am sore but nothing like before. The weight loss definitely made it easier on my joints. I also played sports all through my childhood and even played semi-pro football into my early 30's. Those effects of those injuries over the years seemed to lessen as well. Hope the same positive results happen for you too! Good luck!

Eat plain clean food. I can no longer eat tuna/chicken salad. I have noticed a lot of things I used to love are no longer appealing to me. Most of my meals even to this day (I am 6 mo out) are very clean not bland but clean. It will be trial and error till you find what you can tolerate. Good luck to you.

Cut my time running 2 miles the elliptical machine to 13:40!

258.8

With my last comment that is for non WLS weight loss. We need to go by our surgeons guidelines. I get 90-100g a day. My Protein shakes have 26g per scoop, I have them 2x per day (in the am after my coffee on the way to school, and in the pm about 30 min before I go to bed) then have a high protein and veggie meal plan through the day. One of my favorite snack is beef Jerky. As far as ? 3 I just suck it up and think of my goals. It does get boring but I know it will be worth it in the end!

Simple terms it takes much more to break down the Protein molecules than it does to break down the same amount of carbs, sugars, or fats. The amino acids in protein are the key component to cell reconstruction. It takes more calories to break down the protein to its simple components causing weight loss. Also what is not used can not be stored the same way carbs and sugar are stored so it does not turn to fat if not burned. So that is where the weight loss aspect comes in. You can get too much protein which can cause damage to your kidney. That was one of the biggest arguments to the Atkins diet early on. But the standard is .5g of protein to 1lb of body weight to lose weight. But if you are lifting weights and exercising hard it should be bumped to 1g per 1lb of body weight.

Anybody else in Northern Colorado?!

I will be one this summer! Moving back to Fort Collins from Southern California!

Same clothes left is the day I was discharged from the hospital (the lady was my nurse. Everybody thought it was funny how short she is next to me). The right is last month at my 5 month post op. At that point I was down about 90 lbs since surgery. I have dropped another 26lbs since then.

I work out at least 3-4 days a week and work on the elliptical going 21/2 miles at a 7:15 min pace. Plus lifting weights. I feel as though I am in better shape now than when I was in the Army infantry! I am building my strength back up, I also used to bench over 400 lbs but at 38 I don't need to go that hard anymore but still like to lift heavy! Every work out seems to get less and less painful (except leg days, leg days always suck and am sore for a couple days after).

I wore a XL Superman shirt today and my chest and arms filled the shirt more than my belly did! I did not look like a comic con nerd wearing it!

I do both tape and scale plus the mirror. Since I have started lifting it is hard to really tell if I am losing weight or losing body fat/gaining muscle (I put on n muscle extremely fast so tape is not always a good indicator) I do the scale and mirror daily. And tape once a week. CrayonBaby is right as well es everybody else it is easier to fix small gains than wait for the unknown till you go to the Dr. Definitely go back to what you were doing when you were losing quickly. Ditch the soda and empty calories, and go back to the protein and water, Chrystal Light... cut all grain carbs and anything that is not healthy. You can do it it will just take hard work and utilizing the tool of your surgery to your advantage.